Although the Library of Congress is in charge of DMCA interpretation, we hope the FCC, steered by Genachowski, can wield some influence on behalf of the best interests of consumers.

To unlock or not to unlock

Users who want to switch carriers after purchasing a subsidized phone have to unlock it first, but carriers succeeded in getting cell phone unlocks banned in October.

The ban went into effect on January, and as of Jan. 26 it became illegal for users to unlock their own handsets.

Now users who unlock phones purchased after that date face legal penalties that have yet to be fully explored.

This is great for carriers, which will no doubt believe customers will be more likely to simply stay locked into pricey contracts rather than face fines or other penalties for unlocking their own phones.

It's not so great for consumers, though, who many believe should be able to alter software freely on devices they own.

How many? Quite a few, it seems, based on the recent whitehouse.gov petition that garnered over 112,000 signatures.

We're still awaiting a statement from the Obama administration, and between that and the FCC's interest, the future of smartphone unlocking could be looking up soon.